Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: Yet there are people that are scoffing at the promise of the coming of the Lord. All over the world. In our universities they scoff at students that believe in God. If you're in a classroom and you say you're a Christian, and if that teacher is an atheist, believe me you're going to get harassed the whole semester. And you have to be strong to stand strong against the scoffers.

Guest (Male): I am falling. I am falling in love. I am falling in love. I am falling in love with You.

Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Returning to 2nd Timothy, Raul will encourage us to be unwavering witnesses of the gospel in these final days of world history. Christ could return at any moment, so it's crucial that we pray for those who don't yet know Jesus and point them to His salvation while there's still time. Keep listening for a challenge to confidently and effectively represent Christ with a strong knowledge of scripture. Let's join Raul Ries in 2nd Timothy chapter 3.

Raul Ries: The emphasis in this chapter is pretty incredible. It's on knowledge and responsibility, knowledge and responsibility. And yet, Paul here informs Timothy about the character of the last days and then he instructs them on how to respond in the last days, how to be a Christian. It's not only with Paul, but even today that he's going to talk to us. If you were reading the newspaper or watching CNN or Fox News, you could actually see that the Bible is so contemporary to the modern world today if you read it correctly and you see what he says.

Action must be based on knowledge, he says. Today, many Christians are like the pilot who informs his passenger, he says, we're lost but we are making very good time. Think about that. And that's what the word of God will do to us if we get into the word of God and we study God's word, especially looking at the last days. We're not going to be surprised when things happen. In these last days, Paul here in informing Timothy, he's beginning a ministry to let him know that Jesus is going to come soon. It's not just millions of years, but he's talking about definite time that Christ said that He would return. And He said He would come again.

Now, not every place in the Bible where it talks about the last days is pointing to the last days before Christ comes again. You have to look up in the Greek what it means there. But here he's talking about the last days right before the coming of the Lord and right before the tribulation period. And yet there are people that are scoffing at the promise of the coming of the Lord all over the world. They scoff at it. In our universities they scoff at students that believe in God. If you're in a classroom and you say you're a Christian, and if that teacher is an atheist, believe me you're going to get harassed the whole semester. And you have to be strong to stand strong against the scoffers that are going to come against you.

In 2nd Peter chapter 3, we have one of the most beautiful chapters in the New Testament where Peter gives us insight to the last days. He says, "Beloved, I now write to you the second letter, in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder. I want to remind you so you don't forget that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets." So what is Peter doing? First of all, he's saying, I'm going to take you back to the Old Testament, to the old dispensation before the New Testament was written. The prophets of old spoke. They never saw the promises fulfilled. He says, but you're going to see them fulfilled, what they spoke about.

Then he goes on to say this, "And of the commandment of us, the apostles of our Lord and Savior, knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days." There it is again. "Scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own desires of the flesh and saying, where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers have died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." Is that true scientifically? Is that true biblically? No, things change. Nothing remains the same.

You see, nothing remains the same. Everything's changing every day. And yet Peter says again, and they're saying, where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. And for this, they willfully are forgetting. Notice that by the word of God, the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of water in the water, and by which the world then existed perished, being flooded with water. He says, go back and study history. Go back to Genesis chapters 6, 7, 8, and 9 and read what God did in the days of Noah when He brought the warning and the flood came.

And the flood actually came and drowned everyone in the world except for eight righteous people. Noah, his three sons, Mrs. Noah, and their daughters-in-law. They were the only ones to go into the ark with every unclean and clean animal, one of each male and female, into the ark. And then God shut the door and then the flood came. As a matter of fact, they tell us that the actual Ark of Noah is in Mount Ararat, in that area of Turkey. And even they say that Napoleon, Napoleon was able to see it in his time and there have been people that literally have flown over and they have seen kind of like an ark in the ice.

Wouldn't that be something in the last days if they would find Noah's Ark? That would be a tremendous discovery. But at the same time, would people really believe? Think about it. If they really don't believe the Bible, look how many archaeological discoveries they've made and they go, you know what, archaeology is great, right? But where do they get their information from? The Bible. So it's not really archaeology, it's the Bible telling you where to find it. And they dig and they find these findings, incredible. And yet people still don't believe what the word of God says.

And yet he goes on to say this, "But beloved, do not forget one thing that with the Lord, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years is one day." You see, God is not in a timetable. God already had said that He's going to come and prophetically speaking, God has a set time of days and years that He's going to fulfill. And in the past I've told you how it works. It starts in the book of Genesis. In chapters 1 through 11, you have literally 2,000 years fulfilled. You say, what do you mean 2,000 years fulfilled? Because we believe that those seven days where God created the heavens and the earth are literal 24/7 days, 24-hour days. We believe that.

And if that is true, 24-hour days, if that is so true, then in chapters 1 through 11, you have 2,000 years of history already completed. And then when you start with chapter 12 of Genesis where Abraham steps into the scene, all the way to chapter 50 of Genesis, you have another 300 years that are fulfilled. And if you go a little bit further from Genesis chapter 12 all the way through Exodus and then Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and then you come to the book of Joshua, and then you go to the book of Ruth and then Judges, and you move 1st, 2nd Samuel and Kings and Chronicles and all the way through and you come to the last book of the Bible, which is Malachi the Italian, no, Malachi, excuse me.

Malachi. What happens? Then you have the last book of the Old Testament. But historically, if you don't know history, then you don't know what's between the New Testament and the Old Testament. What is that? 400 years of silence. What do you mean? Silence. God didn't speak for 400 years. That's where at that time during the 400 years of silence is where the Apocrypha books were written. These 17 books that were written are historical. We do not accept them as God's word. Number one, because they're not quoted in the Old Testament and they're not quoted in the New Testament. Whatever we believe in the New Testament from the Old Testament is quoted by Jesus and by the apostles, and it's always in reference back and forth. Otherwise, we don't believe the book of Maccabees, 1st and 2nd Maccabees.

We don't accept them as scripture. We accept them as history because, you see, you have to know God's word. And at the same time when you study that, by the time you come to the 400 years of silence and you come to chapter 1 of Matthew, now you have from Genesis chapter 12 to Matthew chapter 1, another 2,000 years historically already fulfilled. That's 4,000 years. And from the first coming of Christ in Matthew chapter 1 and you move all the way through Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, and Corinthians, and Galatians, Ephesians, all the way through to the book of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, Jude, and then Revelation. And you come to the last chapter of the book of Revelation, that's another, what, 2,000 years? Yes. That's 6,000 years.

But remember, after 6,000 years what did the Bible say? Jesus Christ is going to come again at the second coming. Why? Because there's a thousand years where He's going to rule in the kingdom age. That's 7,000 years. And then when He creates the new heaven and the new earth, what happens? That's on the eighth day. What's the eighth day? New beginnings. Seven days in the week, on the eighth day you start a new week. In numerology, it's complete.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. If you're in the Diamond Bar area this Saturday, March 14th, join Pastor Raul and other solid teachers at Calvary Chapel Golden Springs for a family conference titled Family God's Way. Through powerful Bible teaching and worship, couples and families will be encouraged to build their homes on the foundation of God's word. Whether you've been married for decades, newlyweds, or raising children of any age, this conference offers timeless biblical truths and real life application to help your family thrive. For more information, go to somebodylovesyou.com and click on the family conference graphic. Now back to more with Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: And what's amazing to me today is that if you asked me, well, where do you think we are today, I would say to you, we're getting ready close the 6,000 years and the seventh year is going to start soon. But before that happens, remember in prophecy, the time of the Gentiles has to be fulfilled. You have to go to the book of Daniel chapter 9 verses 24 through 27 where Daniel in chapter 9 was praying and he was about 68 years old. And he was still worshipping the Lord and working for the Lord. And the Lord came to Daniel and said, Daniel, I want to let you know as you're reading the Bible and as you're praying that I'm not through with Israel.

This is what I'm going to do with My people. And the Lord gave him the 70th week of Daniel. And the 70th week of Daniel is 490 years that they would have to be fulfilled. 7 times 7 is 49. But if you say 70 times 7, it's 490. 70 times 7, that's what he says, 490 years. If you go backwards to the Old Testament to the book of Nehemiah, chapter 1 is an introduction. In chapter 2, we have on March 14, 445 B.C., where the king gave the command to Nehemiah to go back to Jerusalem for 12 years and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Remember that story? March 14, 445 B.C.

It would be done. And then at the same time when Jesus is coming into Jerusalem in the book of Matthew chapter 21, and He's entering on a donkey and they're putting palm branches out and they're spreading their garments and they're saying, Hosanna, Hosanna, save now. The last week of Jesus before He's crucified, entering on a donkey. What is that? That was a 483 years prophecy fulfilled by Jesus Himself according to Daniel chapter 9. And there's only one seven-year period which makes it what? 490. Those last seven years is the world seven years tribulation period that has not started yet.

It's coming. Why? Because the next event in God's calendar is the rapture of the church. God's going to take His church home. You see, the Bible tells us that the Antichrist cannot make his appearance until what? Until we are out of here. What is keeping the Antichrist from coming into the world and making his unveiling? The Bible says what? The church. In 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2. Now, if that is true, look what he says again verse 4, this is so cool. "Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God showing himself that he's God."

Now let's stop for a second here. Does Israel today have a temple? No. No, they haven't had a temple since the time of what? Since Zerubbabel. And back in Solomon's time, they destroyed the temple. And then the Romans came and destroyed the city of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. So what do the Jews do today? If you go to Israel, they have no temple. They have what's called the Wailing Wall, the oldest part of the wall going back to the time of Jesus when the temple was there. And so what do they do is they stand against the wall and they pray and they put prayers against the wall in the Wailing Wall because the Jew is not even allowed to go on top of the Temple Mount. It is forbidden by the Muslims, by the Arabs. You see, they can't go up there.

And if they go up there, there would be a major war. And who sits on top of the temple today? The Mosque of Omar, the Muslim temple, the second most holy place to Mecca and Medina is in Jerusalem. You see, right there where you see this little mosque, real tiny, it's where literally the Jews believe is where Solomon's temple used to be. And it makes sense when you look at it. Why? Because the Bible says in the book of Revelation chapter 11, you can go home and read it. That in the tribulation period, at the beginning of the tribulation period, there's going to be a pact made between the Arabs, the Palestinians, and the Jews.

And they're going to be allowed to come up on top of the mount and build their temple so they can worship. And God says in the book of Revelation that they're going to build a wall right here in the middle separating the temple of the Gentiles and the Jews will have their place to worship. The Antichrist is going to do this. He's going to give power to them. Once that happens and he gives them power to worship, then the Antichrist in the middle of the tribulation period, in the first three and a half years they will build their temple, in the last three and a half years according to Revelation, you'll see that here in a moment, he will go up into the holiest of holies and he will desecrate it exactly what one of the most fearsome person ever did in the time of the Maccabees.

Where he came in and he desecrated the temple, he killed a pig and bled it in the holiest of holies. Antiochus Epiphanes the IV did that. You can read that in history. The Antichrist won't kill a pig. He will go in, the Bible says, and he will sit in the temple and he will say, I am God, worship me. Read Revelation 13. Remember that the Antichrist receives a mortal head wound. And what does the false prophet do? He says, let's build an image of the Antichrist and we'll have the whole world bow down to him and worship him. It reminds me of Daniel chapter 3 when Nebuchadnezzar built his image 90 foot tall and told everybody to bow down and worship, except for the three Hebrew children would not do it.

And what's going to happen in the tribulation period? Hundreds, thousands of Christians that came to the Lord after the rapture of the church or those that were left behind and came to the Lord, they're not going to bow to that image. They're going to have to be beheaded, the Bible says. That's the only way to get to heaven. Go back to 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 8. "Beloved, don't forget one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promises as some count slackness, but is what? Longsuffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance."

Isn't that wonderful? And you know what's kept me walking a straight line is the coming of the Lord because He said, I'm going to come when they least expect me. He could come today, He could come tomorrow, He could come the next day. You say, yeah, but what do you mean? I mean, I could be killed tomorrow and be with the Lord. Heart attack, whatever it is. Because no man knows when you're going to die. You see, you got to be ready to meet the Lord. So it's not just Him coming literally, seeing Him, but He's telling you you be ready because anything could happen at any time.

But I'm going to come and the Bible says when He comes, He's going to come like a thief in the night when the rapture takes place. His coming in 1st Thessalonians chapter 4:13 through 18, He says He's coming from heaven to the clouds and we're going to meet Him in the clouds and we're going to go back to heaven. But at the second coming, what does it say? Every eye shall see Him. He's coming back with who? With you and me in white horses coming to the battle of Armageddon to fight against who? The world that rejected Christ. Pretty heavy.

And then He'll set up His kingdom for a thousand years. Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit. Forty-five day judgment, Matthew chapter 25, Daniel chapter 12 tells us that. Forty-five day judgment to see who's going to go into the kingdom. Why? Because at the second coming of Christ, those people in the world that receive Christ and they're not gone to heaven yet, they still have bodies, they have wives, they have kids, what does He say? They're going to go into the kingdom age, they're going to repopulate the earth for a thousand years. A thousand years. We will be coming back with Christ with our new heavenly bodies, not our earthly bodies. Nobody will be overweight. Nobody will be all skinny. We'll have new bodies, bodies that are heavenly bodies, and we're going to be ruling and reigning in the earth.

Satan will be placed in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, chained up. Imagine that, no evil. But then God in the thousand-year period is going to allow those people that are on the earth to have to come, every person from the nations, they have to come to Jerusalem once a year and sacrifice. And if they don't come, God will not let them rain nor rain will come to their land. And He says there's going to be babies that are going to die at a hundred years old. Isaiah chapter 60 through 66, you could read it. Incredible. God has a plan for the church. We are living in the last days.

Guest (Male): Well, it's easy for all of us to get so caught up in our personal lives that we forget there are people around us who need to hear the gospel. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's lesson was titled Prophetical Times Coming part 1. If you'd like to get an unedited version with much more teaching, we'll be happy to send a copy to you for a donation of five dollars or more. Just call us at 800-634-9165. For more inspiration to serve as Jesus' living witnesses, we'd like to tell you about Raul's 11-part 2nd Timothy study. It's available on either CD or thumb drive with each lesson calling you to stand firm on the solid rock of Christ and represent Him well to a watching world. You'll see that when you fill your mind with God's word, Its truth will guide your steps in His ways and empower you to bring glory to His name. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul's 11-message study of 2nd Timothy. We'll send you the CD set for 24 dollars or the flash drive for just 15 dollars. The number again is 800-634-9165. Or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, P.O. Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765. Look for us on iTunes and Spotify for podcasts of all previously aired programs. You'll also find these podcasts on the Somebody Loves You Worldwide YouTube channel. For live streamed Bible teaching and digital Bible studies, be sure and download our Somebody Loves You app. This ministry is fully listener supported. Your partnership enables us to keep sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with the world. Tune in again next time as we continue this series in 2nd Timothy with an eye-opening look at the telling characteristics of a person who claims to be a Christian but who has never truly surrendered to the Lord Jesus. This insight will help you guard against religious hypocrites who could damage your faith. Now with a closing comment, here's Raul once again.

Raul Ries: He says God is not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away as a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat, both earth and works that are in it will be burned up. There's a day of burning coming. God's going to create a whole new heaven, a whole new world. All this is going to pass away, everything. Hell will be cast into the lake of fire with what? With every demon, Satan, every wicked person. Death and hell will be there and they'll never ever be able to come into the city of God ever. Total separation from those people. You'll never see them again. That's why we need to get them before they die. We need to pray for them. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to give us that opportunity to share our faith with them so they can come to know Christ. Otherwise, they will perish.

Guest (Male): I am falling in love with You. This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.